Lost games and a lost season because of the lockout would cost the Coyotes ticket sale revenue, sponsorships and concession dollars. The Coyotes lost $20 million to $25 million in recent seasons, according to financial estimates and the team’s 2009 Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization documents. Forbes magazine estimates the Coyotes lost $21 million last season.

But those revenue losses could be more than offset by Glendale’s arena management money and the lack of a professional sports team payroll.

If Jamison is able to buy the Coyotes from the NHL, he mostly will be on the receiving end of the $300 million, 20-year arena deal.

The bulk of that deal is the city paying Jamison on average $15 million per season to run Jobing.com Arena. The first season of that deal is for $11 million but is pro-rated to when Jamison closes on the purchase.

“The $11 million dollar figure would have been for a full year,” said Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni. “Since we are now halfway through the year, it will most likely be in the range of $5.5 million to $6.5 million. It just depends on when the purchase of the team is complete and when Jamison takes over management of the facility.”

Glendale is subtracting $60,000 per game from the $15 million for every hockey game missed because of the lockout. But Jamison still can come out ahead financially.

The Coyotes have 19 homes games remaining after Jan. 14. If all of those games are cancelled because of the lockout Jamison’s Coyotes group would lose about $1 million.

That means the new Coyotes’ owner still would end up with $4 million to $5 million for a lost season.

The Coyotes payroll costs also would be down because owners aren’t paying players during the lockout. The Coyotes have the fourth-lowest player payroll of the 30 teams that make up the NHL, according to CapGeek.

Defenseman Keith Yandle, for example, has a five-year, $26.5 million contract with the club. Team Captain Shane Doan inked a four-year, $21.2 million deal with the Coyotes earlier this year.

The lockout has canceled just over the half of the regular play so far and could derail the entire 2012-13 season if a deal isn’t reached so games can resume in February.

Max Fose, spokesman for Jamison, said the prospective Coyotes’ buyer is not commenting as he tries to finalize his 16-month bid to buy the hockey team.

The team was put in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 by former owner Jerry Moyes and has struggled financially since moving to the Valley from Winnipeg in 1996. The team has been owned by the NHL since 2009.

The Coyotes are worth $134 million, according to Forbes.

Jamison could ink an arena deal before the end of year or before a new Glendale City Council and mayor take office in mid-January. The city deal gives Jamison until the end of January to make the deal happen.

Ken Jones, one of the organizers of the effort to get a referendum on the ballot, said volunteers are collecting petition signatures.

Jones unsuccessfully tried to take a previous Glendale Coyotes deal to the ballot but failed to get enough signatures over the summer. Backers of the Coyotes deal are skeptical Jones and his cohorts will able to collect the more than 6,900 voter petitions signature by the last week of December to force a referendum.

Opponents of the deal also could take the city to court if and when public money is given to Jamison’s ownership group.

“Right now, Ken Jones and others are out there collecting signatures everyday,” said Walt Opaska, an attorney with the law offices of Bryan Cave LLP in Phoenix and an opponent of the deal. “Everyone also is waiting to see if Jamison can actually close the deal and buy the team before the end of January deadline.”

Mike Sunnucks writes about politics, law, airlines, sports business and the economy for Phoenix Business Journal, a sister publication of Sporting News.